Mountain Climate Change - Issue 30

In this issue

Regional News

Common men on the streets could be seen discussing two issues prominently all over the state - the rising temperature and poor power situation - but the issues are no longer only a matter of concern for the lay man as experts have become concerned over the situation.

The high-tech early warning system to alert the communities about the Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) is going to be installed in the Tsho Rolpa Glacial Lake, an official in the Climate Risk Management said.Tsho Rolpa – is one of the biggest glacial lakes in the country – has been categorised by scientists as most potential dangerous glacial lake.

“Even as climatic change and water scarcity are posing major threats before us, agriculture productivity could be enhanced by the development of various technologies”, said, Dr M.M Pandey, Deputy Director General (DDG) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during the inaugural of the 10th coordination committee meeting of All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Application of Plastics in Agriculture (APA) begins here today at the Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET).

To mitigate the risks caused by sudden discharge of a huge volume of water from glacial lakes, a first of its kind project titled “Reducing Risks and Vulnerabilities from Glacier Lake Outburst Floods” in Northern Pakistan (GLOF Project) was launched Monday, reports the Pakistan Observer.

India Wednesday said the EU decision to collect billions of dollars every year by unilaterally imposing a carbon tax on flights landing in the Eurozone is a deal breaker for climate change talks.Speaking at an event organised by the The Energy Research Institute (TERI), Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said such unilateral measures in the guise of climate change are unacceptable.

Global News

Average global temperature has already risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit during the previous century, according to data from NASA. Ohio State researchers said they project that this number will more than quadruple by 2070 in North America.

Results gathered from 3,640 observations of 946 distinct seagrass meadows across the globe show that coastal seagrass beds store up to 83,000 metric tonnes of carbon per square kilometre, mostly in the soils below them. Comparatively, a typical land forest stores around 30,000 metric tonnes per sq.km.

Methane from underground reservoirs is streaming from thawing permafrost and receding glaciers, contributing to the greenhouse gas load in the atmosphere, a study led by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has found.

Climate change, with its associated melting ice caps and shrinking glaciers, is the usual suspect when it comes to explaining rising sea levels. But a recent study now shows that human water use has a major impact on sea-level change that has been overlooked.

To offset the effects of climatic change and global warming in the country, the Pakistan Forests Institute (PFI), Peshawar has completed a comprehensive study to determine the climatic change scenarios in Pakistan’s various ecological zones and its impact on forests resources.

Called Fragile Earth, the app for iPhone and iPad shows how our planet is impacted by global warming by featuring more than 70 sites such the receding Muir Glacier in Alaska, the impact of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the draining of the Mesopotamia Marshes in Iraq.

Events

Call for participation; The Conference has become the most important annual gathering in ESES. It will be an opportunity for the international community to exchange ideas and develop a common vision for the future of world climate change and water resources.

Call for Participation; This Conference examines evidence of climate change, its natural and human causes, its ecosystemic impacts and its human impacts. The Conference also addresses technological, social, ethical and political responses to climate change. Deadline: 15 July 2012

Call for participation; The International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR), Bournemouth University, is pleased to announce this important conference with an aim to debate the broader conceptual ideas and contested relationships between climate change, sustainability and tourism as well as to examine worldwide responses and exchange cutting-edge research.

Call for participation; The International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR), Bournemouth University, is pleased to announce this important conference with an aim to debate the broader conceptual ideas and contested relationships between climate change, sustainability and tourism as well as to examine worldwide responses and exchange cutting-edge research. Deadline: 30 June 2012

Call for abstracts/proposals; Impacts of climate change on global water crisis. Perspectives of water management technologies- approaches, challenges and opportunities. Application of innovative technologies to increase water productivity with quality. Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 31st August 2012

Call for abstracts/proposals; GECS-2012 consider how conceptions of human security are being transformed in the face of global environmental change (with a focus on CC), and how urgent a shift ? in science, policy and leadership ? is needed. Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 15th July 2012